On Friday night Nick told Nia and I that he had a surprise outing planned for us on Saturday. All we were told was that we needed to be ready to leave at 10:30 and wear pants, a t-shirt and tennis shoes (no hiking gear needed). I was intrigued and excited, and assumed we’d be going to some park, museum or cultural sight.
As we settled into our Yandex (Kazakhstan’s Uber), Nick told us we had a 45-minute ride ahead. Definitely something on the edge of the city then, I thought to myself. As 45 minutes stretched into an hour, it was obvious we were lost. The taxi driver only spoke Russian, but since I didn’t know where we were going, I couldn’t direct him. My irritation grew with each passing minute and I asked several times if we should pull the plug. I even offered an alternative sight nearby that we could try. But noooooo, Nick was determined to reach this mystery place, even though no directions were being shared and the driver just kept trying road after road (all while I got more and more nauseous in the back seat). I could tell this was important to Nick though, so I just shut up, closed my eyes, and mentally practiced saying “Stop now, please” in Russian in the event that I had to suddenly throw up.
90 minutes after setting out, we finally came upon an area with large crowds of people converging on a giant arch. This can’t be it, I thought. Nick doesn’t like large crowds. He’d never choose something with masses of people. But it was. “Time to get out,” he said, as Nia and I shared confused glances. I was not going to question it though—I just wanted out of the car. And with that, we assimilated into the flow of people heading toward the arch.
There were still no details being given, so I simply kept walking. I did, however, notice a huge village of yurts in a distant field and the fact that several attendees were decked out in beautiful traditional Kazakh dress. So far, these were my only clues, which led me to believe that we were going to a Kazakh cultural fair or festival. Shortly after passing through the arch, I noticed someone up ahead waving at us, which gave me pause. We’re meeting people?? This is so out of character for Nick.
“Hey Timur!” he called out (note: the name is pronounced Tee-more) as I put together that we were meeting up with one of Nick’s local staff members and two other people I didn’t recognize (who I’d later learn were with a U.S. NGO and in town meeting potential partners). This experience was getting stranger and stranger, but my excitement was growing. What the heck were we about to experience??
Part 2 coming tomorrow!
